Kim Nok-wan (34), who organized the largest-ever sex exploitation group "vigilante group" on the mobile messenger Telegram and acted as the ringleader "pastor," had a life sentence finalized.
The Supreme Court's No. 2 Petty Bench (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) on the 10th upheld the lower court's sentence of life imprisonment for Kim Nok-wan, who was indicted on charges including violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses (production of sex exploitation material). It also maintained the orders for 30 years of electronic monitoring, a 10-year employment ban at institutions related to children, youth, and people with disabilities, and a 10-year order to disclose and notify personal information.
For member A, who joined the vigilante group and acted as a "assistant pastor," the court finalized an indeterminate sentence with a maximum of 2 years and a minimum of 1 year and 6 months in prison, and for member B, it finalized a 2-year-6-month prison term.
After seeing reports on the "Nth room" case in early 2020, Kim Nok-wan allegedly copied the methods to organize the vigilante group, produced and distributed sex exploitation materials, and committed rape, among other crimes, and was arrested and indicted in February last year. The crimes continued from August 2020 to January last year.
Kim Nok-wan is also accused of producing 1,090 sex exploitation files involving 49 children and teens, distributing sex exploitation materials involving 36 victims, and coercing 10 adult victims to take 286 nude photos. He is also accused of extorting a total of 3.6 million won from two victims by threatening to expose their personal information.
The vigilante group coerced women who posted body photos on Telegram channels or engaged in compensated dating, and men who tried to enter Telegram "child rooms" or "acquaintance degradation rooms," by threatening to obtain and spread their personal information, then obtained body photos and produced and distributed sex exploitation materials. Some victims were lured out and raped in person.
The "assistant pastors" who took part in the vigilante group recruited victims and linked them to Kim Nok-wan or distributed sex exploitation materials and threatened the victims. Senior assistant pastors gathered and trained members and directed the crimes.
The vigilante group had 261 victims. That is more than three times the 73 victims in the similar Telegram "doctor's room" case. The sex exploitation materials produced by Kim Nok-wan and the members totaled more than 2,000.
In the first and second trials, the courts sentenced Kim Nok-wan to life imprisonment and ordered 30 years of electronic monitoring, a 10-year employment ban at institutions related to children, youth, and people with disabilities, and a 10-year order to disclose and notify personal information. The Supreme Court dismissed all the defendants' appeals.